PEC ready to cement new rules

Perhaps the clearest signal of that new culture is the proposed bill of rights for Pedernales members, outlining their rights to fair elections, access to co-op meetings and open records

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Published Sunday, February 21, 2010/Austin American-Statesman

By Patrick George/American-Statesman Staff

Over the past few years, Pedernales Electric Cooperative has become associated less with its historical role of supplying power to the Texas Hill Country and more with lavish spending, secretive management and legal woes.

Bennie Fuelberg , who was its general manager for more than 30 years, was indicted last summer in the felony theft of money from the co-op. Fuelberg and the co-op's former general counsel, Walter Demond , are accused of arranging for thousands of dollars of co-op money to be paid to relatives of Pedernales executives between the mid-1990s and 2007.

The charges followed disclosures that stemmed from a member-led lawsuit and detailed questionable dealings by Pedernales officials, lack of oversight by its board and closed-door practices that kept the co-op's 200,000-plus members largely in the dark about its operations.

That was then. After beginning a series of reforms in 2008, the Pedernales board is poised today to enact new bylaws and proposed amendments to the organization's articles of incorporation that will make the changes permanent.

The board hopes the policies will also make Pedernales — already the largest member-owned cooperative in the country — a national model for open management.